I don’t often work with shotguns. Clays fly. Men, women and children blast them from the sky and I have to live with my wife’s conciliatory, “I think you nicked that one… Honest”. When it comes to shotguns, I have good eye coordination and I have good hand coordination but, for some strange reason, each remains staunchly independent of the other. In fact, there are only two shotguns I have ever been able to shoot really well, a Savage hammerless single shot 12 gauge and an early 1960’s vintage Belgium made Browning Auto Five. The Browning Maxus extended the list to three.
With New England temperatures hovering around zero for the past few weeks, it hasn’t always been a treat hauling guns and equipment out to the range area, or spending a few hours shooting with ungloved hands and attempting to jot down notes on lined legal pads bent on blowing off the bench. For those of you who are too young to remember, the latter is something like an Androidless tablet with a handheld contact mouse.
The Browning Maxus is a cradle carry natural as a function of good balance and a broad forearm. Outdoors, its wood stock, blued steel and satin nickel finish serve as natural camouflage, blending in with trees, dry pine needles, leaves, and New England granite. Yes, I can hear the chorus singing “Synthetic stocks are lighter”, but at 7 lbs 1 oz, the aluminum alloy receiver Maxus Hunter is light enough for a gun that will see 2 1/4 oz. 3 1/2″ #4, 00 Buck or 1 3/8 oz slugs loads. The synthetic version weights only 2 oz less.
The Power Drive Gas System
A departure from Browning’s Active Valve System used for the 1993 Gold series shotguns, the Browning Power Drive Gas System was introduced as the heart of the 2009 Maxus product line. Designed as a 3 1/2″ shell system, it uses off setting gas ports in the barrel to moderate gas flow based on shell length and an improved gas piston design to accommodate a wide array of ammunition types within each hull length.
I ran just about everything through the Maxus I had on hand for the project, 12 gauge 2 3/4″ target to 3 1/2″ turkey loads and they all cycled cleanly without incidence of feed or eject failures. Browning indicates that larger gas piston ports dump gas faster as a contribution to reduced recoil. The directional control Inflex Technology Recoil Pad is designed to pull the stock comb down and away from a shooter’s face on discharge. The use of a 0.745″ back-bore reduces recoil contributing bore friction.
I would say that target loads are probably the softest recoiling I’ve experienced in the past four or five years across many brands of shotguns. In fact high velocity 3″ steel and lead were all very mild to shoot. For me, shooting high velocity turkey loads… Winchester Double X Magnum and Supreme 3 1/2″ 2 1/4 oz #4, broke a certain trust I previously shared with my right shoulder but, still, recoil was lighter than it would have been with most of Browning’s competitors’ products. For every 984 grains of forward motion, there is an equal and opposite…. I would absolutely agree that the stock did not thump on my cheek under recoil, not was there much muzzle rise. See the part above where I noted how the Browning made even me look good as a shotgunner.
An interesting angle…
I developed a theory that the forearm had a positive downward offset from the bore centerline, which shifted my natural shotgun point upward; I was covering the target, rather than shooting under it as I did with most autoloaders. The judicious use of a protractor and level proved the barrel to be a constant distance and parallel to the bore centerline. That’s OK, I wasn’t planning on using that two hours of my life for anything of consequence anyway. Which reminds me of a joke…
A scientist was experimenting with the training of flies for military applications. For hours on end he would stage a fly and command its destination. After a year of constant training, the scientist commanded, “Fly to the table!” The fly would take off and land on the table and the scientist would make note in his journal. “Fly to the door knob!” The fly would take off and light on the door knob and the scientist would make note in his journal. One day, in the course of his experiments, the scientist grabbed a pair of tweezers and pulled the wings off of the fly. He once again commanded, “Fly to fly to the table!”, but no response. He commanded, Fly to the door knob. Again, the fly sat motionless. So the scientist made the notion in his journal, “When you pull the wings off of flies they go deaf”.
Cast off… Argh
Small changes in stock geometry can make a big difference is how intuitive a firearm handles or shoots under fast reacting situations. The Browning Maxus comes with a spacer that increases pull length by 1/4″ when installed. Additionally, a variety of spacers are included that can cast the stock left or right, up or down, by removing the buttstock and inserting them at the stock wrist. The shotgun is shipped with a neutral spacer in place. Selection of the appropriate spacer will cast the stock left or right from centerline by 1/8″ left or right and raise or drop the heel by 1/8″.
Speed Lock Forearm and Turnkey Magazine Plug
Gone is the magazine cap that takes what seems like a hundred turns to remove. On the Maxus, a button is depressed and a small lever lifted (below) to affix a sling or to remove the forearm In fact, this was the easiest autoloading shotgun I have worked with to take down for cleaning or maintenance.
The Turnkey Magazine plug is easy to install and remove with the choke tube wrench that comes with the Maxus, or a screw driver or a key. There is a slot in the end of the plug that need only to be rotated a quarter turn clockwise or counter clockwise to remove the plug. Since the stock is so easy to remove, plug in or out in the field is a minor task.
Other magazine… stuff
The little latch at the lower front edge of the receiver is the Maxus magazine cut off. Flip aft, the gun can be cycled to empty the chamber without feeding a round from the magazine.
The Browning Maxus can also be speed unloaded; place the safety in the on position, flip the gun over, push down on the carrier, then push in on the gun’s shell stop to release each round.
Trigger… and no Roy
Through improved part geometry, boosting spring rates and reducing hammer mass, the Lightning Trigger System average lock time is 5.20 milliseconds, or 24% faster than competing products at the time of introduction. The trigger group comes out with the easy removal of two pins.
I was duly impressed by the lock time… but I never know how to put that into real world context without a high speed scope or camera to help visualize the difference. So I am probably better off stating all of this another way. To me, shotgun triggers feel like pulling a stick through a tub of thick oatmeal. The Maxus trigger feels like a crisp rifle trigger. The pull is short and predictable, break is clean and there is a missing lag that goes directly to placing shot accurately.
Invector Plus Choke System
The Maxus Hunter includes three Invector Plus chokes as pictured. They are long choke taper and intended for use with back-bored barrels as supplied with the Maxus Hunter. The choke tubes are notched on the face as a tactile code to identify the choke type when installed inside of a barrel.
Pride of ownership…
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Providing some of the technical details… sort of technical details of a nice shotgun is always enjoyable, but sometimes the approach misses the bigger picture.
The Browning Maxus is a beautiful shotgun. Clean lines, angular cuts and quite streamline. It is a very balanced firearm; comfortable in the hands, it has a substantial feel. The Maxus has a natural point and tracks moving target with precision. I spent part of the day shooting frozen grapefruits and other citrus my wife thinks I eat for lunch but actually stash in an outside locker marked “targets”.
This is an incredibly easy gun to clean up. The nickel, gloss walnut and blued barrel wipe clean, as does the gas system and magazine tube. The take down is simple, thanks to the Speed Lock and everything under the stock is as nicely finished as the outside. In the world of quality autoloaders, the price tag isn’t bad, especially with all the extras in looks and performance that come with the Maxus.
If the Hunter isn’t the Maxus Model for you, there are twelve other configurations to select from the $1,500 Stalker to the $2,000+ Maxus Sporting Golden Clays Maple in 3″ and 3 1/2″ chambers. For further details on all models, stop by the Browning site.
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